


Side by Side

by sandersonsister



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Crossover, M/M, Memory Loss, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 17:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandersonsister/pseuds/sandersonsister
Summary: Stiles was excited when he won the tickets but he didn't expect what was going to happen next. He didn't know that an incident was going to cause his memories to be wiped and the game to become real to him. Before he knew it, the fact that he was Stiles was completed wiped from his mind and instead, he was Thomas and the game was his new reality.While Stiles is trapped inside a game, the pack is frantically trying to figure out how to get him out. This wasn't supernatural, what could they even do?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, that summary sucked. Thanks to anyone who is attempting to read this after seeing that...lol. Anyway, I've been wanting to write a Maze Runner/Teen Wolf crossover story for years but I never had a good way of pulling it off. So, we'll see how this goes.
> 
> Also, I'm going to be following the movies for this one, just because it works out better for what I have planned. :)

“Oh, come on, Scotty! After the last couple of years we’ve had, we deserve to have some fun!” Stiles whined, clenching the certificate for the new virtual reality arcade in his hand. After all they’d been through, first Peter, then Gerard, the alpha pack, and…well, everything else, he just wanted one day, _one_ , where they could go back to being normal teenagers.

“I don’t know, Stiles,” Scott sighed, barely even glancing his way as he stared at the book in front of him. Stiles was pretty sure Scott thought if he stared at it hard enough, all of the information would just sink into his brain and he wouldn’t have to worry about passing. For once. “I mean, virtual reality sounds cool but getting placed in a game where we are running for our lives…haven’t we kind of done that already?”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “No! It’s completely different! No supernatural here! It’s so cool, alright? It’s a game where there’s this virus that’s like taking over peoples brains or something. Zombies! Think zombies! And the kids, which would be us, are like immune or something, and the doctors keep placing them in these tests to…”

“Aren’t zombies supernatural?”

“They aren’t actually zombies! Just kind of!”

“I don’t know, Stiles,” Scott said once more, shaking his head. “I have to study so I pass our exam next week and I promised Kira that we would go out tomorrow… and then there’s the pack meeting on Wednesday. Why don’t you ask Theo?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and scowled at the hopeful look Scott threw him. Yeah, there was no way that was going to happen. Just because this guy they knew as kids reappeared in their lives didn’t mean Stiles was just going to trust him. Not like his best friend who never seemed to consider that some people just aren’t _good_. But no matter what Stiles said, he knew that Scott would never believe him that there was something weird about Theo.

Sometimes, just sometimes, he missed Derek. At least the grumpy wolf listened to him when Stiles said he didn’t trust someone.

Of course, that was because Derek had a hard time trusting _anyone_.

“Yeah, no,” Stiles replied, shrugging his shoulders at the disappointed look Scott gave him. “I’ll just go by myself. It’s cool.”

“Won’t that be boring, though? Playing it by yourself?”

“I won’t be!” Stiles said, forcing a smile on his face. “That’s’ why you have to sign up and make an appointment…I mean, I never actually expected to win these tickets, you know? It can be really expensive, depending on the game, and this is supposed to be one of the best! But when I’m in, I play with other people that are playing, so it’ll be fine.”

“If you say so,” Scott frowned, his eyes scanning over Stiles once more before he turned back to the book. “You can tell me after you get back. Maybe we can find a way to get tickets again or something.”

“Yeah, sure.”

__________________________________________________ 

Three days later, Stiles found himself listening intently as a young woman explained the game to him thoroughly and had him set his emergency passcode. The tickets he won gave him two hours (two hours!) of free play time, but she explained it was going to feel like longer as time seemed to move differently when you were inside. She then told him that if he needed out for any reason, he just needed to state his emergency passcode and the simulation would end.

That done, she then had him lay back against the comfortable chair and she strapped the headset around his eyes. “Alright, count down from ten for me,” she said cheerfully.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

_________________________________________________

Unknown to both the woman and Stiles, halfway across the county a riot was taking place at the main headquarters of the virtual reality simulator. Somehow, a group of people broke inside and destroyed whatever equipment they could get their hands on, none of them knowing what exactly they were doing to the thousands of people that currently had their consciousness plugged into the machines.

_______________________________________________________________

“In other news,” a reporter said, her pretty face solemn as she stared at the camera. “An attack on Vimbrose Reality Headquarters has left thousands of people worldwide trapped inside ten virtual reality games. While all of them are reading as stable, it seems not one of them has been able to be woken from their current state. CEO Hector Vimbrose currently as no statement on the matter…”

The plate Scott had been holding crashed to the floor as one name rang throughout his head.

_Stiles_.


	2. Chapter 2

He gasped in a deep breath as he woke, panic flooding his system. Who was he? Where was he? What was going on? He tried to push himself to his feet, only to stumble when he realized he was hurtling through the air in a metal box. His eyes strained as he attempted to see out, to see what was below or beside him but there was nothing but darkness. He looked up, looking toward the only light, and flinched when he saw he was going toward closed, metal doors.

With a yell, he crouched down and threw an arm over his head, despite the fact that he knew it wouldn’t do much to protect him. But then, before he hit the solid doors, the cage he was in came to a sudden, jarring halt. A loud sound, a buzzer, rang throughout the cage and he threw hands up to cover his ears.

Then those solid doors opened with a loud clang and he winced against the sudden bright light. Light that was quickly blocked by dark figures that surrounded the now open doors. He stared up at the laughing men that surrounded him flooded with trepidation. Where was he? What was going on? Who were these people?

How could he get back?

The top of the cage was pulled back and one of the figures jumped down beside him, causing him to jerk backwards. He had no idea what this person was or what they would do once they were beside him. And he didn’t think he wanted to find out.

“Day one, Greenie,” the man…no, boy…said as he reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt. “Rise and shine.”

He was hauled out of the cage by the strong hands on his shirt and then, suddenly, he was thrown down onto the hard ground, the group of jeering boys closing in around him.

“Kid looks like a slopper to me…”

“I could use some help in the kitchen!”

Faces swam around him and all he knew was that he needed to get away. He pushed himself to his feet and began to run, pushing through the boys that were still laughing and commenting about things he didn’t understand. “Hey, we got a runner!”

“Yeah, look at him go!”

He didn’t think, he just ran. He needed to find somewhere safe until he was able to figure out what was going on. Getting far away from those people was the first step…

But then he was flying through the air. He groaned as he hit the ground, pain shooting up his leg. He had tripped over something and probably twisted his ankle. Just his luck. Something like that always seemed to happen to him. It never happened to the others.

What others?

Always happened to him?

What the hell was going on? Who…who was he?

Loud cheering made him jerk his head to the side, knowing he needed to keep an eye on the mob of people had seen previously. When he did, his eyes drifted to what was over their heads.

A wall.

He turned his head frantically, seeing the walls surrounded him from every side.

Where the hell was he?!

The next thing he knew, his arms were grabbed by some of those boys and he was being pulled over to a strange looking hole in the ground. He yelled at them to let him go as they dropped him inside a make-shift door behind him.

Great. He was back in yet another cage.

“He’s all yours!” Someone yelled.

He pushed himself to his feet for what felt like the hundredth time that day and warily moved toward he “door”. It was made of some sort of…twine and…wood? Maybe? He wasn’t sure…but they had some sort of lock on it. Beyond the “bars’, he could see boys moving around various items and a type of building.

“Hey.”

He jerked backwards with a gasp as someone suddenly knelt down, peering at him through the bars. “Hey there, Green Bean,” the person said, raising an eyebrow. “You’re not gonna run again, okay? Good.”

He barely processed what the boy, who could have only been a year or so older than him…possibly…opened the door and gestured for him to get out of the…prison. “My name is Alby. Now, can you tell me anything about yourself? Who you are, where you come from? Anything at all?”

It was then that he realized that he couldn’t. He knew that he…shouldn’t be here. He knew that this wasn’t right. But he didn’t know where he should be. Didn’t know how he had got there. Didn’t know…anything…

His hands rung together as he shook his head. “No.”

“Can you tell me your name?”

His name? How could he forget his own name? “No. I, uh, I don’t remember anything. Why can’t I remember anything?”

He gasped for air, forcing himself to try and remember who he was. His chest was closing in, the air coming faster. Nothing was making sense. How could he just…how could he…where was he? _Who_ was he?

“Relax,” Alby said, his voice somewhat harsh but soothing in a strange way. “Relax. It’s normal.” Normal? How the hell cold this be normal? “It happens to all of us. You get your name back in a day or two. It’s the one thing they let us keep.”

They? Who were they? And did he mean it happened to all those people he saw before? Had it happened to Alby as well? But Alby knew his name…a day or two? So they weren’t really sure how long this lasted? The only thing they let them keep?

“What is this place?”

Alby’s lips twisted into a small smirk and he leaned forward, offering him his hand. “Let me show you.” Swallowing hard, he reached out to grasp the hand. Alby’s grip tightened around his own and then he was once again in the bright sun. Alby’s grip dropped and he allowed him a moment to look around. It was a big, open space with a series of trees off to one side. There were various buildings scattered around, as well as some sort of garden, and he even saw various animals kept to one side. Boys were everywhere, all of them doing various tasks. “We eat here. We sleep here,” Alby said, striding forward and not even looking back to see if his companion was following behind him.

He was.

“We grow our own food. We build our own shelter. Whatever we need, the box provides. The rest is up to us.”

“The box?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” Alby responded, gesturing off to the side. He turned and saw the wide open doors. Familiar doors.

Oh. The cage thing that brought him up.

“They send them once a month with fresh supplies and a new Greenie,” Alby informed him. “This month, that’s you. Congratulations.”

But he didn’t respond to the obvious sarcasm. Instead, his mind began to whirl with questions. “Sent up? By who? Who put us here?”

“Yeah, that we don’t know,” Alby admitted, the smirk fading from his face.

“Alright, Alby?” a new voice cut in. He turned quickly to see another boy, this one blond and…he blushed…attractive, striding toward them.

Oh. Well, he guessed that told him at least a little about himself.

“Green Bean, meet Newt,” Alby said, smiling at the blond.

“Hi,” Newt commented with a smile. Newt held out his hand and the other boy felt himself flush as he grasped it and quickly let go. The blonde’s eyebrows shot up and amusement flashed in his eyes.

Fantastic first impression. Good job.

“When I’m not around, he’s in charge,” Alby continued, unaware of what was happening between the other two in front of him.

“Good thing you’re always around, then,” Newt quipped. “Listen, that was some dash you made earlier. For a minute, I thought you had the chops to be a Runner. Till you face planted.”

“What’s a Runner?”

The question was ignored as Alby leaned over toward Newt once more. “Newt, do me a favor. Go find Chuck.”

“All right,” Newt said good naturedly, sending a grin toward the new boy once more.

“Thanks.”

Newt walked past the two and the…”Greenie”…couldn’t help but stare after him. Alby loudly cleared his throat and the other snapped back to attention, a pale pink staining his cheeks. “Look, I’m sorry to rush this,” Alby said, his brows furrowing as his dark eyes studied the other boy. The other boy in question glanced over his should once more, wondering how Newt had got that limp, when Alby grasped his shoulder and forcefully turned him away from the retreating blond. “You came up a little late and there’s a lot to do.” He glanced over his shoulder once more, this time meeting a pair of brown eyes. Quickly, he snapped his head back around. “We got something special planned tonight.” Alby turned and he followed his gaze…back toward Newt. Once more, Alby’s hand landed heavily on his shoulder. “You’ll see.”

Alby continued with the tour, showing him various places in the “Glade”, as they called it, and he explained the three main rules. After that, Alby departed and he found himself with a younger boy. Said boy was helping him set up his area, which included a hammock, and explaining just a bit more about the place he had found himself trapped in.

It was during this little bonding time that he found himself wandering toward the only opening within the tall walls. The opening that Alby made clear he wasn’t to enter. But he couldn’t help but wonder what was out there. What was so dangerous that they just…stayed where they were?

He was already halfway across the Glade before Chuck noticed he was gone.

“I just want to see,” he said as Chuck asked what he was doing.

“You can look around all you want,” the younger boy commented, throwing panicked looks toward the opening. “But you better not go out there.”

“Why not? What’s out there?”  


“I don’t know,” Chuck said firmly, gripping his arm and pulling the older, and taller, boy to a stop. “I just know what I’m told. And we’re not supposed to leave.”

It was then that two boys, both around his supposed age, jogged out of the opening and right past him and Chuck. “Hey Chuck,” one of them said, his eyes scanning over the new boy quickly. “New Greenie, huh?”

“How does it feel to be promoted?” The other jogger asked.

“Feels great, Ben,” Chuck said with a smile, giving them a thumbs up.

“I thought no one was allowed to leave.”

“I said _we’re_ not allowed to leave,” Chuck clarified, pointing to himself and the other boy. “They’re different. They’re Runners.”

There was that word again. Hadn’t Newt said something about Runners?

“They know more about the maze than anyone.”

…wait.

“Wait, what?” he asked out loud, his eyes snapping toward the younger boy once more.

“What?”

“What? You just said maze.”

“I…I did?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, ignoring the panic in the others voice and once again turning to the opening. A maze? That seemed like…like something he would be good at. Did he like mazes? He strode forward, peering further into the opening.

“What are you doing?!”  


“I’m just gonna take a look,” he murmured, looking into the dark opening and scanning over the dark walls. Chuck was in front of him instantly, blocking him from moving any further.

“I told you, you can’t,” the other said, “especially not now. It’s not safe.”

“Okay, I’m not gonna go,” he said reassuringly, even though he wanted nothing more than to sprint past the other boy and figure out just what the hell was going on. He moved slowly, brows furrowing as he walked a little closer toward the…maze.

And then he was once again flying through the air.

He really wished that would stop.

He groaned as his back slammed against the hard ground. He glared up at the figure who pushed him, only to see the same guy that had pulled him out of the cage earlier. “We gotta stop meeting like this, Greenie.”

“Get off of me!” he yelled, scrambling away from the bigger teen.

“Alright, easy, easy,” the other said, almost as if he was trying to calm a wild animal.

Which only proceeded to make him even more furious. Why the fuck wouldn’t these people just lleave him alone?!

“Take it easy. Relax.”

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?” he yelled, seeing that all the boys were once again surrounding him.

“Hey! Relax!”

And then a familiar blond was standing there. “Just calm down, alright?” the blond said in that lilted voice.

“Why wont you tell me what’s out there?” the newest boy demanded, his eyes locking onto Newt’s and not wavering.

“We’re just trying to protect you, man. For your own good,” Alby cut in, taking a cautious step toward him. He jerked back away from him instantly.

“You can’t just keep me here!”

“But I can’t let you leave!”

“Why not?”

It was just then that a loud rumbling began to echo behind him. Every head turned to face the opening…which was closing.

Doors.

They were doors.

“What the hell?” he muttered as the walls groaned and creaked before snapping closed with an awful _snap_.

“Next time,” the by that had constantly been telling him to relax growled, “I’m going to let you leave.”

“Welcome to the Glade.”

___________________________________________________________________

“I don’t understand,” Noah Stilinksi growled at the doctor in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at his son.

“From what we’ve been able to tell,” the doctor said patiently, “everyone is stuck within the game until they are forcefully ejected. None of the safety features are working and we are unable to bring them out of the game at our end.”

“And how can they be ‘forcefully ejected’?”

“Well, from what we can tell…” the woman sighed and shook her head. “When you are integrated into the game, your characters memories are implanted among your own. You know what is false and what is real, of course, but we believe that in this situation…we think the people in the games truly believe that their false memories are real.”

“It’s messing with their minds?” Scott asked in horror from beside Noah, the two of them exchanging a horrified look.

“Once they come out of the simulation, everything should be restored,” she said quickly. “But, since none of them remember that they’re playing a game…”

“They think it’s real,” Noah said in growing horror. “All of it. And if I know my son, he didn’t pick a game with unicorns and rainbows.”

The woman winced. “No, no he did not.” She sucked in a deep breath. “There are two ways for them to exit the game. The first is that they will be returned once they complete the game in full. So, they need to win.”

“Or?”

“Or…or if they die in the game, their consciousness will be ejected.”

Noah didn’t like the hesitation in her voice. “Will that harm him? If he dies in the game, will it hurt him in…in this world? In reality?”

The doctor let out a deep breath and met his eyes. “We don’t know.”


End file.
